Chamber of ....Secrets?

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 185956

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "potioncat" <willsonkmom at ...> wrote:
>
> I recently watched TMTMNBN--CoS. And, suddenly I wondered, why is 
> Slytherin's hidden chamber called the Chamber of Secrets? All that was 
> there was a big snake. I mean, that was enough. 
> 
> But why "secrets"? Why not The Monstor's Lair; The Horrible Chamber: 
> The Hidden Menace? Even the legend (although I may not be firm on the 
> canon) was that there was a monster in the chamber--not that there were 
> hidden secrets. So why did wizards or JKR call it the Chamber of 
> Secrets? Does anyone have any ideas on this?
> 
> Potioncat, who thinks the real Chamber of Secrets was DD's office.

Geoff:
Because it held a secret which presumably only the 
heirs of Slytherin knew about. Binns made a passing 
reference to some sort of monster but could not be 
specific. Little was known and the feeling of many 
people was that it was just a tale - Binns also 
commented that he did not believe that Slytherin 
had built even such a thing as a secret broom 
cupboard.

Bearing in mind that Slytherin left the school 
about a thousand years ago,in those circumstances, 
the story circulated among probably the wealthier 
and better-educated people of the day. Even they 
would have been superstitious and added to what 
little was known to weave a legend around the 
supposedly hidden chamber he had constructed.

My belief is that when you look at some of the 
place names which came about in those days because 
of legend and myths, the Chamber of Secrets name 
seems a good deal more likely than the mundane 
titles we bestow on similar things today. I can't 
see folk in the 11th or 12th century referring to 
"Sally's Dungeon" or something similar.
:-)